Much like an empty Singapore Pools outlet, good news during the COVID-19 pandemic has been rare. 

It’s been especially rare in the last few weeks or so here, when community cases were on the rise and it seemed like another circuit breaker would be required.

Thankfully though, the tighter measures imposed by the authorities together with the compliance of residents seem to have stemmed the outbreak.

Yesterday, 14 new COVID-19 cases were reported, of whom 5 were from the community. This was the lowest number of new community cases since 10 May, when three infections were reported.

What’s more, all of them have links to previous cases and all were quarantined before their infections were detected.

Here are the details:

[email protected] Cluster

2 of the 5 community infections were from [email protected], a source of many community cases recently.

Both cases are residents of the adult care home and had already been vaccinated. Their infections were detected through Ministry of Health’s (MOH) proactive testing of residents there, though they were both asymptomatic.

Atatcutz Singapore (348 Bedok Road) Cluster

Another 2 community cases were linked to the Atatcutz barber shop cluster which is located at Simpang Bedok.

They are:

•  a 34-year-old Singaporean man who works as a technical officer at Singapore Power and a part-time barber at Atatcutz Singapore
•  a 39-year-old male Singapore Permanent Resident who is a manager at Prudential Services Singapore and has been working from home

The 34-year-old was placed on quarantine on 2 June after being identified as a workplace contact of two previous cases.

When he was tested on 4 June during quarantine, his test result came back negative. However, he then developed a fever and shortness of breath on 5 June and was again tested for COVID-19 on 6 June.

This time, his test returned a positive result. His serology test result is pending.

The Prudential manager had been identified as a close contact of a previous case in the cluster and was placed on quarantine on 5 June. He developed a sore throat on the same day and reported his symptom.

He was tested on 6 June and confirmed to be COVID-19 positive that same day. His serology test result is pending as well.

Case 63964 Cluster

The remaining community case is linked to the Case 63964 cluster, which is named after a 61-year-old Singaporean woman who works at NTUC FairPrice at Clementi Avenue 3.

The new case in the cluster is a 55-year-old Singaporean woman who works in an administrative role at Alco Engineering Trading Pte Ltd. She was last at work on 11 Feb.

Identified as family member of Case 63964 and another previously reported case, she was placed on quarantine on 2 June.

She is asymptomatic and tested positive for COVID-19 on 7 June during quarantine.

Her serology test result is pending.

The woman completed her vaccination regimen on 22 May, having received her first dose on 1 May.

9 Imported Cases

9 cases from abroad were also detected, namely:

• 2 Singaporeans and 3 Singapore Permanent Residents who returned from Belgium, India, and the UK
• 1 Work Pass holder who arrived from the Philippines
• 3 Work Permit holders who arrived from Indonesia and Malaysia, of whom 1 is a foreign domestic worker

All 9 cases were tested while serving their stay-home notice.

Fortunately, no new infections were reported in migrant workers’ dormitories.

204 Cases in Hospitals

At the moment, there are 204 confirmed COVID-19 cases in hospitals, most of whom are stable or improving. 2 are in critical condition in the intensive care unit.

Another 313 cases with mild symptoms or lower risk factors are isolated and cared for at community facilities.

25 more cases have been discharged from hospitals or community isolation facilities recently.

Featured Image: Facebook (Atatcutz Singapore)